


when you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that...

by Sanctuaria



Series: Celebrating AoS Season 7 (with angst and hurt/comfort) [11]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Dekesy, Gen, Injury Recovery, LemonQuake, and bad at taking care of herself, but tbh high-key platonic in this one, episode 7x08, in which Daisy is stubborn, season 7, they didn’t speak in this episode AGAIN so they are speaking here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25327057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctuaria/pseuds/Sanctuaria
Summary: Her eyes flash up to his. “Don’ttell me to go back in the healing pod.”“I wasn’t going to!” Deke says with something that is half-grin, half-yelp. “I know by now telling you not to do something is like telling a Kreeper blue’s not his color.”
Relationships: Deke Shaw & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Deke Shaw/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: Celebrating AoS Season 7 (with angst and hurt/comfort) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764745
Comments: 30
Kudos: 73
Collections: fill the daisy/deke tag with actual content 2020





	when you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that...

**Author's Note:**

> Because I will apparently be writing Dekesy until the sun explodes...
> 
> This week, we have “Deke checks on Daisy when he gets back ‘cause she was injured and also because she wants to go visit her murderous mom and maybe not get born???”
> 
> Takes place right after her conversation with Coulson, during which Simmons and Sousa are talking parachutes and playing toss-the-radio. Title part of a quote from _Firefly _.__

She eases herself back against the countertop, just those two minutes of free-standing already making her head swim. Simmons and Sousa are right, she knows; she really should be back in the healing chamber—they’d be even more on her ass about it if they knew how crappy she really felt—but she can’t lie idly by while the team is in danger, even if there’s nothing she can do to help. It’s not a quake-able solution, or a hackable solution, but she still wants to be awake when it comes to a resolution, whatever that resolution might be.

Daisy concentrates on her breathing, like May taught her, although she doesn’t need a heart rate monitor on her wrist to know that hers is already well below 61 BPM. Everything feels vaguely sluggish around her, the always chilled air of the Zephyr now seeping right to her core.

_In, and out. Release the tension in your body._

It’s hard to do when most of her is sore, the kind of constant pain that does make her want to curl up into a ball and not move for the next century—not that May would ever have taken that as an excuse. Her wrists, the crook of her elbows, her shoulders, the one patch on her ribs… The worst is the place on her back, on her spine, the lucky spot for Nathaniel Malick’s largest hypodermic needle. It’s the one that makes the first few minutes in the chamber unbearable as her weight presses it against the hard metal base of the machine, not that she would ever say so to Simmons. Daisy’s faced worse, and felt worse, and they all have bigger problems right now than worrying about hers.

In, and out.

Her eyes lift to meet Coulson’s, and she knows he’s worried anyway.

He always is, when it’s about her.

In, and ou—

Deke’s head pops up in the doorway, checking the coast is clear of she’s-not-sure-what before coming in anyway. His eyes sweep over Coulson, sitting up but still immobile as the Chronicom machine manufactures up his ankles, then back to her. “Hey, I was just…” He sweeps one hand in the general direction of Control. “Looks like Yo-Yo’s our only hope, now.”

“I’m sure you did everything you could,” Daisy says softly, leaning heavily against the counter. She blinks, wondering how concerned she should be about the blackness encroaching on the edges of her vision.

In, and out. 

“May and Yo-Yo should be back in five,” he says. His eyes fall to the bandages still wrapped around her overly pale arms. “Do you need anything? Can I get you anything?”

In, and out.

Daisy summons the energy to speak again despite the weighted tiredness in her bones. “You don’t have to do that, you know. You don’t have to make yourself useful…or have an excuse to stick around. And just…be here.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know that.” The way the smile slowly spreads across his face tells her he doesn’t, but she’s not going to press him on it.

Coulson lets out a small cough behind her, and somehow Daisy doesn’t think it’s related to the three glasses of water he just drank. She pushes herself off the edge of the counter and sways immediately on her feet, her head going fuzzy for a second. Daisy reaches a hand out blindly toward Deke and he’s there immediately, his fingers light but firm on her arm as he steadies her. “Help me to Control?” she rasps. “I want to be there when…”

“Yeah, sure. Okay.” His grip tightens every so slightly, letting her set the pace as her shaky legs take their first hesitant step.

In, and out.

“How was the 1980s?” Daisy asks with what little breath she has, because she hasn’t yet. “I’m sorry; it can’t have been easy, getting left behind.”

“It was worse for Mack, but we pulled through,” Deke says. She tries to listen, to concentrate, the words floating to her as if in a fog. “I made some friends, started a band…”

In, and out.

Wait… “Did you say _band_?”

“…blew up some robots, it was a whole thing,” he finishes. “I missed you—you guys—a lot. The team. It’s good to be back.” She nods, concentrating on stepping over the small lip in the floor that separates the lab from Control, but stumbles anyway as the ship jumps again, forcing Deke to catch her. “Hey. Hey, are you—”

“Okay?” Daisy finishes, biting off the word despite the way her vision is swimming. In, and out. “I’ve had worse.”

“I’m sure,” Deke says gently as they finally reach the edge of what can be called Control, still supporting her as she basically collapses into the first chair with an unobstructed view of the screens.

Her eyes flash up to his. “And _don’t_ tell me to go back in the healing pod.”

“I wasn’t going to!” Deke says with something that is half-grin, half-yelp. “I know by now telling you not to do something is like telling a Kreeper blue’s not his color.”

“Good,” Daisy huffs, although her lips quirk upwards a little. “Everyone’s so _concerned_ right now…when we literally might collapse into a spacetime singularity, or whatever.”

“Well, you do look like death,” Deke tells her. His brow furrows. “If—if death—looked—good?” He swallows. “I mean—you just got tortured, you aren’t fully healed, and you’re already volunteering to send a team off to meet your somewhat murderous mom on a mission that might make it so you’re not even born in the first place, so… I don’t think you can blame us for being a little concerned.”

“When you put it like that,” she grumbles. “Well…take one for the team, right? Or many…”

His hand ghosts over her back, a fleeting warmth gentle enough not to cause her any additional pain despite the mess Nathaniel Malick’s made of it. “Sure I can’t get you anything?”

She crosses her arms; she really is cold. “Maybe some tea?”

He smiles. “Be right back.” Deke jogs off toward the in-flight kitchen, and Daisy leans back, resting her head against the navigation console behind her and closing her eyes. In, and out… Before she knows it, he’s back, pressing his fingers to hers as one of the only places safe to touch without risking hurting her. “Tea,” Deke says, holding a steaming cup. A singular lemon wedge adorns the edge of it, and Daisy raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t sure how you liked it—” he says, pulling a handful of sugar and creamer packets out of his pockets as soon as soon as she has a steady grip on the cup’s handle.

She takes a sip, the hot liquid slipping down her throat and warming her chest just as much as the gesture does. “It’s good. Thank you.”

Deke nods, some of the puppy-dog look returning to his face again. Mack, Sousa, and Enoch come in from several different directions and he shifts, checking the clock. “Two minutes til the next jump. I’m gonna go get Nana if we’re all meeting in Control.” With one last gentle touch to her shoulder, he heads for the lab, turning back at the last moment. “And Daisy? Next time, let someone else take a turn taking the hit, yeah?”

She musters up half a smile, Sousa coming to stand next to her to wait for word from May and Yo-Yo. “What would be the fun in that?”

**Author's Note:**

> Me, starting this: I’m gonna make this entirely platonic, because they have good friend potential and the Daisysous ship may yet sail in canon…  
> Me, ending this: …the lemons…where do they come from…they are inescapable…
> 
> Any and all feedback is appreciated!! Also if you just wanna scream about how exciting/terrifying the next episode is gonna be, I'm down for that too 🍋


End file.
